The first hint of bad news came when I landed at "Terminal 4" at Heathrow. There is NO Hotel Bus... not even the "Hop On" bus that tours multiple hotels. I expect an "Airport Hotel" to have its own hotel bus. No bus... no phone to connect to the hotel to be informed that there is no bus. Even Airport Information did not know that there was no hop-on bus to the hotel. However, they did tell me that it would be 4 pounds to take the "hop-on bus" and that it only takes British Pounds. When I remarked that it costs 3 pounds to change money for a 4 pound fare, they callously replied, "Well that's how they make their money." No Kidding! A taxi to the "Jury's Airport Hotel" costs 14pounds (approx $32.) Just ridiculous... and everyone admits this is so... yet nothing seems to be in the works to change it. The girl who checked me in at the front desk also seemed unapologetic and somewhat unfriendly, unknowledgeable and unhelpful. When I asked about a taxi for the morning, she said she could arrange it but when I inquired about which terminal the AA flight to Miami usually left from, she suggested I look at my television set in the morning. Conversely, her very friendly and very helpful colleague, Kelly, suggested that it usually leaves from Terminal three and then proceeded to look it up for me and confirmed that it was terminal 3.

The original desk clerk then asked if I would like to make a reservation at the restaurant as a large group were scheduled to dine there at 7pm... so I should book on either side of 7pm. I asked if there was room service. Response: No.

Upon arrival in the room, all was neat and tidy. However, there is no drawer space (One tiny drawer has the hairdryer "glued" to it. The other tiny drawer is occupied with a phone book and a bible. There are two cubby holes in the closet. The towels look worn and threadbare...

This is not what I would consider a hotel designed with the "traveler" in mind...

I suggest you consider the "transportation costs" when costing out hotels and stay somewhere that is more into servicing travelers.

This is a fairly new Heathrow hotel which I've avoided until now because it looks a bit isolated at the "back" of the airport. It's a contemporary 3 star with accommodation perhaps a bit better that the usual chains. We had a good sized room on the 7th floor although there was an uninspiring view over cargo areas and building sites. Rooms on the other side look out over a ramshackle farm, horses and haystacks!

Car parking is £7 per day for residents. The hotel offers rates which include parking for 8 or 15 days. You can probably get the same deal cheaper on Holiday extras but keep an eye out for special rates. We got a room for £42 which was a bargain. The walk-in rate for breakfast is £10 so we waited until the airport and paid about half that in Garfunkles.

Getting to the airport was simple. You only need a cab if you can't be bothered to make the short walk. The hotel is within the free bus zone. You can walk 100m and catch a 555/556/557 or H23 free to Terminal 4 and take the free Heathrow Express link to Terminals 1,2,3. Or you could catch the same buses (plus the 285) in the other direction to the central bus station. Or, if money's no object you can take the Hoppa!

It's only a 5 minute, well signposted walk to Hatton Cross tube station which you can almost see from the hotel. Admittedly it could be a problem for some, multi-suitcase tourists if the weather is bad. Hatton Cross is one stop from Terminal 4 and two from 1,2,3. If you've got an Oyster it may be worth paying the 90p(?) fare. The regular fare is £3. Or you can catch one the the free busses from the bus station at the back of the tube station.

Return buses from Terminal 4 run from Stand 7 outside arrivals. The late night walk back to Jurys from Hatton Cross seems safe.

The big advantage of this hotel is the ease of travel to central London. It allows you to turn an pre-flight stopover into a nice day/evening out in London. A one day travelcard for zones 1-6 is £6.70 allowing unlimited travel. I suppose, strictly speaking, access to London isn't much different from hotels on Bath Road via the central bus station. However, provided you get a reasonable rate the short walk to the tube makes it well worth considering. We'll pprobably stay on our next trip provided I can get a sensible rate for park & fly.

I stayed here for one night before a flight out of Heathrow the next day. In theory it is a quick three or four minute walk to get to the hotel from the Hatton Cross tube station, but it's easy to walk out the wrong exit from the tube station and have to backtrack. I schlepped my bags up and back down the stairs of the pedestrian highway overpass. This is unnecessary, since only a half block further on, there are pedestrian crosswalks at grade level. Well, live and learn. The hotel is quite modern and the check in staff were efficient even though there were quite a few airline employees all seeking their rooms at the same time. My room was quite large by London standards, nicely decorated in an inoffensive style, with a comfortable bed, an amply supply of smallish towels, an immaculately clean bath with good shower, and ethernet internet access. (Though it isn't the fault of the hotel, the internet service is expensive compared to others I have used in hotels--10 pounds per day.) Triple glazing means you hardly hear the planes, amazingly enough. Next morning the front desk staffer advised me to go back to Hatton Cross tube station to get to Terminal 4, cheaper and quicker than the hoppa bus. And he was quite right.The only downside to my stay was the food there. You're hostage to the hotel bar and restaurant because of the hotel's location. I waited nearly an hour for an appetizer and salad, and at that the appetizer had been excessively microwaved and was tough as a result and the dinner salad small and tired. Very disapointing. Breakfast next morning was adequate but nothing particularly noteworthy. Still, the hotel is good value for money, kept up nicely, and extremely convenient. Now, if they could just get service and food at the restaurant sorted out...

My phone wouldn't stop beeping as if I had a message, which drove me mad. Internet was dodgy to start with, and when I phoned the operator about it, I heard him tell his colleague I was "asking 1001 questions about the internet". Not justified, in my view!
However, his colleague was very apologetic, and the internet worked in the end.
(Porters would be a nice addition....)